Transformation—The Way Ahead - The Update Point - Brief Article

FA Journal, Nov-Dec, 2001 by Michael D. Maples

None of us will ever torget the attacks on our nation that occurred on 11 September 2001. The images of the World Trade Center collapsing and the smoke billowing from the Pentagon will forever play over again in our minds. So will the images of our national colors being raised in the rubbled streets of New York and the Stars and Stripes being draped from the blackened walls of the Pentagon.

Today, men and women from the Army and our sister services and agencies are engaged in a war against terrorists and those who aid them. The events of 11 September again have reminded those who serve that we have accepted the noble task of defending our nation's freedoms and again have caused all Americans to appreciate that "Freedom Isn't Free."

The Challenges. Accomplishing this profound responsibility requires us to be ready today to respond to the challenges of the contemporary operating environment and to be ready tomorrow to meet the demands of the future by increasing our commitment to Transformation. It means we have to invest our best professional and intellectual effort in developing leaders to deal with the complexities of today's world and the diverse challenges of tomorrow's battlefield. It means we must find solutions to materiel issues affecting our current operating force and take advantage of emerging technologies to develop those capabilities that our Army and the Field Artillery will require as we transform. It also means we must develop and adapt the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) for responsive lethal fires whenever we are called, wherever in the world we deploy and in whatever operational environment we are asked to defend our nation's interests.

FA Worldwide Operations. The world environment in which we operate today clearly reinforces the importance of each component of the broad range of Field Artillery and fire support capabilities. Operations in Afghanistan include special operating forces on the ground, enabling the delivery of joint fires with precision targeting. These operations also have the potential for committing light forces with rapidly deployable, responsive fire support. Korea, a theater constrained by terrain and weather, demands a fires-centric strategy and heavy forces to counter the adversary's ground-based, long-range precision strike assets and his ability to mass forces.

In the Balkans, Field Artillery units continue to provide a broad range of capabilities across the spectrum. We have howitzer crews prepared for the potential of conflict, Firefinder radars providing protection to the force, special munitions effects to enhance maneuver and responsibility for the effects produced by information operations, a process naturally linked to our targeting methodologies.

Today, the Field Artillery is preparing for and executing a broad range of fires and effects across the full spectrum of military operations in a wide variety of operating environments.

The Way Ahead. Transformation is with us now and will lead to our success in the future. Transforming the Field Artillery requires we adapt units and tactics to the current operating environment. It necessitates the continued development of fires and effects capabilities for the Interim Force and, ultimately, the accelerated design and fielding of dominant fires organizations. Such organizations must be able to deliver highly lethal, overmatching fires and potent enabling effects on demand for the Objective Force.

Our traditional role in counterfire is transitioning from what has been largely a reactive process into "proactive counterfire." The process will evolve into a fully integrated offensive counterstrike system to shield the Objective Force and enable its freedom of action.

We understand the importance of effects and the significance of being able to deliver them rather than simply to coordinate them. The Field Artillery has led the way in developing and executing information operations in the Balkans, and we can derive much from that experience as we assume responsibility for producing a full range of lethal and nonlethal effects on demand.

The effort to coordinate fires and effects is underway in the Initial Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) at Fort Lewis, Washington. The insights derived from the IBCT fires and effects coordination cell's (FECC's) coordination of both lethal and nonlethal strikes ultimately will help us transform into a responsive, networked means to deliver the effects required for dominant maneuver.

The events of 11 September confirm the operational environment we face and have caused us to accelerate rather than redirect the Transformation process. Transforming fires and developing enabling effects will be a dynamic, evolutionary process, one that calls for our collective effort. Together, we must leverage emerging technologies and develop the doctrine, TTPs, organizational structures and weapons systems to enable the Field Artillery to play a dominant role in the Objective Force.

I close by asking each of you to remember our fellow service members engaged in the current fight and support those who may be called to fight. They will have Priority of Fires from the Home of Field Artillery.